DALLAS – The ringleader of a phony deposit scam that drained as much as $245,000 from then-credit union Community CU on Monday was sentenced to almost four years in prison.
Steven McGowan, 30, is the seventh person convicted in the ring, which recruited people to open personal checking accounts at the credit union in 2005, then used the accounts to deposit bogus personal and corporate checks so that funds could be withdrawn.
McGowan obtained the account information from the recruits in exchange for money, then deposited the phony checks worth as much as $335,000, some of which he created on his home computer.
Among the co-conspirators were McGowan’s sister, Roelisa McGowan, his girlfriend, Sarah Holmes, and several friends.
Community CU has since converted charters to a mutual savings bank and is now known as Viewpoint Bank.
